Yeshiva University

Figurative Inquisitions

Dr. Erin Graff Zivin visited the Honors Program to talk about her book, Figurative Inquisitions: Conversion, Torture, and Truth in the Luso-Hispanic Atlantic. Dr. Erin Graff Zivin is the Chairperson of the Spanish and Portuguese and Comparative Literature Department at the University of Southern California, and is an expert on Marrano culture.

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Dr. Erin Graff Zivin visited the Honors Program to talk about her book, Figurative Inquisitions: Conversion, Torture, and Truth in the Luso-Hispanic Atlantic. Dr. Erin Graff Zivin is the Chairperson of the Spanish and Portuguese and Comparative Literature Department at the University of Southern California, and is an expert on Marrano culture.

In what was one of our most well attended luncheons to date, Dr. Graff Zivin discussed the political climate of the time and the reasons why Marranos and assimilated Jews made real Christians so anxious. She explained that during that time, it was difficult for Christians to distinguish between themselves and these new Christians, and this lack of a clear cut boundary created a lot of tension.